This book had an interesting start and I have to say that the world building was amazing. I really liked the idea of the quell that provided magic to a chosen few and how it had gotten less over time causing a bit of a panic in magic circles. I also adored the descriptions of the forest in the Coquells, I absolutely understand Tristys' fascination with them. I also really liked Calyssa, she was amazing, and a great character and I wish we had gotten to know more about Telia because she also sounded fascinating. I also really liked Salice, another side-character, who I'd have loved to know more about. However, these are sadly the only things I enjoyed.
The main characters Tristys and Rami were annoying to say the least. Tristys was ok but he changed a lot over the novel and not always in ways that made sense, so reading about him was really confusing. I have a bigger problem with Rami. He's supposed to be the love interest and I just don't really see it. He is rude and says hurtful things and he's just not a character I could imagine falling in love with. However, a lot of Tristys attraction seemed to be based on looks, so there's that. Now to another part, I didn't like. Their relationship. I really wanted to like their relationship more, but due to the constant will-they, wont-they, the cheating, and my dislike for Rami made it hard for me to really enjoy it.
There are some parts of the novel that don't really make sense to me like what kind of teacher in their right mind would let a student believe they killed someone for years? Why didn't they just talk to each other? A letter that somehow got delivered to an island that no one knows exists to a guy that no one knows is there? Yeah, not buying that. A lot of the plot points just seemed dragged out for drama. I was also a bit annoyed in the end of the book since it spends so much time talking about the limits of quell magic and then it suddenly doesn't matter anymore. There are also some problematic aspects of the book, that I absolutely hated.
There is a fatphobic comment in the book right after we are supposed to believe in a happy ending for our characters, but good to know that Rami will always love Tristys. Unless he gets fat, because fat people are unworthy of love. Another comment about how terrible same-sex slavery would be because the female character just isn't into women that much. The bad part about same-sex slavery is the same-sex part, not the rape and abuse. If this comment wasn't right at the end of the book, I'd have probably stopped reading at that point. Also, of course, the lesbian character doesn't get a happy ending and gets fetishized by the ugly homophobe, but she's so nice and puts up with him. Apparently, that is not at all uncomfortable for her.
Every single one of these comments, could have been taken out easily. They are at most a sentence long. They didn't need to be included at all. But they were, and it really ruined my reading experience. There's also a load of homophobic slurs and homophobic violence going on in the story, but they are at least challenged in the story.
Overall, it's an interesting story, great world building, okay characters, awesome side-characters, but sadly also a lot of terrible micro-aggressions and plot twists that make little to no sense at all.

This is a very hard book to review because there were some parts I really loved and some parts I really didn't. The worldbuilding in itself is 5/5 stars, the characters 3/5 stars and the plot 1/5 stars so it was a really mixed bag overall.

I loved the worldbuilding. The magic system, the different islands and their different cultures were so interesting. I wanted to know more about the quells and the different types as well as see how Tristys would handle learning each of the different magics. How the society was set up and the history behind why outsiders weren't welcome on the island - a lot of detail went into the worldbuilding and I really appreciated that.

I liked the characters for the most part, I liked how their relationships and feelings towards each other were complicated and difficult and not what you would expect. I liked how Rami looks at the world was very different to how Tristys looked at the world and how that came across in their POV. However, I felt like sometimes the character development of all the characters went really slowly and then sped up all of a sudden so they would change within a few pages and it looked like it came out of nowhere.

The plot was where this story really fell down and made it hard to finish the book. It was very slow and seemed to go down several different subplots before meandering over to the main plot again. The plotting needed to be a lot tighter, especially when the climatic scene of the book seemed to come out of nowhere. It felt very muddled to me and that really pulled down a lot of things I liked. I'm going to say three stars but only because I really liked the worldbuilding.

<b>"He was glad to be out of the shadow of the chapel, an enormous, gaudy stone edifice that stood over everything like a cruel captor."</b>

Tristys pretty much washes up on Rami's doorstep, and the poor guy has to deal with looking after him. This world that has been created features the elements, such as earth, air, fire, water etc. so of course, magic!! Everyone loves some magic! Magic that Tristys finds he holds within him.
Back where Tristys comes from, being gay isn't acceptable. He's had to hide himself for a long time. But on this island, with Rami, he can be whatever he wants to be, magic sparkles and all!

The world was highly engaging to myself, the reader, and made me want the story to continue. With all the rich atmosphere, I can see an entire series taking place very easily for the author!

<b>"'I see you're feeling better.' The voice was deep, deeper than Tristys's, with a strange accent and a unique vibration. It flowed over him like a river."</b>

Characterisation was good! Merendo kept me interested in what would happen to both men, which is a great skill to have. Typically I lose focus and interest in specific characters pretty easily, but in this I remained curious about both.

Rami is pretty much the saviour that can do no wrong - except when he gets super angry over nothing - and Tristys can never seem to see any fault with him, even though the reader can. This can get a tad frustrating, because you want to pull open his eyes and scream at him to look at what's happening directly in front of him. But a flawed character is a great character. No one wants to constantly read about perfect people who don't really exist!

Reading through Tristys's eyes was very interesting! He made me intrigued about the world the author had created and made me want to know what was happening on other areas around them.

<b>"The water was smooth, but it looked slightly odd, as if the moonslight was reflecting back at odd angles and blurring his sight."</b>

Language made it a tad difficult to get into this story. How on earth was I meant to say, "Sp»lor"? Is the » even a sound or was it just there to make everything seem a bit fancier?

The point of view also needed to be far clearer when switching between characters. Sometimes I found myself turned around, trying to figure out whose mind we were now in, because there were no obvious tells. This might have been better with more in depth thought patterns at the beginning of the chapters so that we can go 'oh whoever this is is looking at Rami's butt. Must be Tristys!'

The detail put into the scenery and certain moments between characters could be quite astounding. Like a poet, the author wove ideas and creations that made me sit back in awe of their talent. Sometimes I wondered how the thoughts ever made it to paper, they were that intriguing and well-written.

"She thought Tristys intended to throw himself at Rami, but he skidded to a halt at the last minutes, the energy that would have propelled him forward coiled now in his legs. He never looked as young as he did then, like a child who'd found his birthday presents but knew he couldn't open them yet." </b>

Overall, I enjoyed this book! It was fun to read and had such great world building. Sometimes the first novel in a series can be a tad shaky because the author is trying so hard to create a world that the readers will like, but with that firmly under his arm, he can focus on creating characters everyone can truly enjoy reading about and falling in love with.

2.5 Stars

One thing this book had going for it was world building.

Matthew Morendo's take on magic or in this case "quell" was fascinating to read about. We got insights into the various islands in Coquells and the distinct quells they represented or that manifested strongly on them[be it earth, air, fire, etc.]. The descriptions were intriguing and I found myself wanting the story to keep moving though the various islands so that I could read more about the wonders to be found on them. I really enjoyed this aspect.

Unfortunately, that was one of the few things that what worked for me here. The main characters were a bit one dimensional and in the case of Rami down right unlikable. I didn't see what Tristys saw in him besides his rocking body and good looks. Rami was childish, rude, aloof, indecisive and hurtful especially when things weren't going his way. His attitude for most of the book was terrible and annoying to read about. I wanted someone to smack some sense into him.

Tristys was okay. I didn't mind reading about him but I didn't really connect with him either. He was confusing. One moment he was reasonable, the next he was reckless, other times he was untruthful and the shifts went on and on and on. I just didn't get him sadly.

Now the secondary characters I really enjoyed. I liked Calyssa although she did a 180 in attitude towards the end and another 180 to get back to the attitude I enjoyed in her. Salice, Gawen and even Terrian were vastly more interesting to read about than our MCs and think I that's pretty telling.

Moving on, things were going as expected when an event threw a wretch into things. Many things confused me at that point and frankly didn't add up. The most glaring was that <spoiler> If Coquells was such a secret and no word from the outside got in, how did the King know that the kidnapping had happened? </spoiler>

After that, the story left the fairly enjoyable to the downright unbelievable. I didn't understand half of the motives behind their actions from that point and why they were all ignoring Calyssa who was the sensible one.

In the end , as expected, they were successful but the path to that success belied most of the parameters for quell-work or magic that had been set through the book.

I think this might be the first book in a series but given the way things went in this one, I might hesitate to pick the next one up. However, if the next book is to be about anyone but these two MCs, I just MIGHT be tempted to read it. Might.

DNF at 57%.

I hate abandoning books but I just couldn't carry on. Over halfway through and nothing was really happening, there was no clear plot and all the characters were irritating me. The conflict was just so unnatural and contrived and nothing made any sense. I'm quite disappointed because it started off quite well but then it just didn't go anywhere, and I'm just too bored, and indifferent to the characters, to carry on. Sorry. :(